Help—tried to raise dents

[Alan Weinberg]

use an iron over double fold washcloth and dents didn’t raise but damaged finish. Best way to repair finish? Wife not happy.

 

[John K Jordan]

I raise small dents with a thin damp cloth and a wide-tipped temperature-controlled soldering iron to raise dents. Any finish almost always needs to be removed and redone. This is not always easy.

 

[Alan Weinberg]

Seems to be getting better w time . . . all I did was raise Cain.

 

[Fred Hargis]

I've never used that trick on finished wood. I'm not surprised it damaged the finish, but that may just be blush from the steam that was generated, if so it should dry out somewhat.

 

[Brian Gustin]

Yeah as Fred mentions, I dont think it will work well on finished wood - not with a film finish on it - you need to get it sanded down to bare wood for the steam to penetrate wood fibers , and its kinda hard to remove finish from the dent, innit?

 

[Alan Weinberg]

Google Search

 

[hughie]

On finished I have had use a fine needle to pierce the finish to allow the water in. Then I rub a wet cloth over it and leave cloth in position over night or as long as it needs . My finish here would be poly urethane and so impervious to water penetration.

 

[Terry Brown]

The best way to get a dent to pop out is to SATURATE the dented wood with water. The wet cloth previously mentioned is used to transfer HOT steam to the adsorbed water. If the steam is hot enough, it will quickly turn the water into steam. This will cause the wood fibers to puff back to almost original size. Do not sand until the spot is fully dried. If sanded too soon, it will fully dry and leave a low spot. Your heat source needs be hot enough and have enough mass to quickly transfer it's energy.